1997 Domaine de Chevalier

The white grapes, harvested during the first 12 days of September, were high in sugar yet managed to retain firm acidity, the sauvignon blanc being especially powerful, said assistant manager Remi Edange. The red grapes, picked from September 21 to October 10, were also higher in sugar than those of the previous year, but slightly lower in polyphenols. Following a severe green harvest, the yield was just 40 hectoliters per hectare, said Edange, who noted that there was little juice in the small berries.

The '98 vintage featured small, thick-skinned grapes, noted assistant manager Remi Edange, who pointed out that the vine density here is a relatively high 10,000 plants per hectare. The yield of 50 hectoliters per hectare-and just 42 h/h for the estate's old vines--is quite low for this density, Edange pointed out. Domaine de Chevalier, which harvests on the early side ("we never look for surmaturite," says Edange), brought in all of its merlot and a portion of its cabernet before the September 27 rain. Vacuum evaporation has been used as needed since 1996, and the estate found it useful in '98 to concentrate the juice from its young vines. Whether due to early picking or to overclarification of the wines prior to bottling, the bottled reds from this domain have been disappointing in recent years. Even the '96, quite promising from barrel a year ago, shows a dryness in the mouth and on the finish.

Assistant manager Remi Edange, like so many other Bordeaux insiders, describes 1997 as "un vin de degustation, pas speculation." Yields here, according to Edange, were a very low 30 hectoliters per hectare due to frost; the wine will be an 80/20 blend of cabernet sauvignon and merlot. Long-time International Wine Cellar readers may recall my notes on the 1993 Domaine de Chevalier tasted before and after it was pumped through a plaque filter what began as a moderately fleshy wine lost some of its tannic bite but was thinner, dryer and shorter following the filtration. During my most recent visit, I was able to sample the '96 rouge before and after it was fined with four egg whites per barrel. Again, the tannins were rounder after the fining but the wine was robbed, at least temporarily, of aromatic complexity and delineation of flavor. Domaine de Chevalier is far from the only Bordeaux estate to fine and filter their wine, and in fact is unusually candid in showing me its wines before and after clarification. What concerns me, however, is the apparently widespread assumption that buyers of Bordeaux require these steps, and are unwilling to put up with wines that throw a deposit in their early years. At the prices of today Bordeaux, do we really want "safe" wine?